local feature

Politics

11:24 am

Thu January 24, 2013

Roger Williams University Law Professor Bela August Walker is an expert in family law and leads a number of courses covering the legal issues facing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

She spoke with Morning Edition host Elisabeth Harrison about the issues surrounding the same-sex marriage law being debated in RI.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@ripr.org

Education

10:51 am

Thu January 24, 2013

Come Tuesday, January 29th, students at Alvarez High School in Providence will have a new physics teacher. You may remember the students went to The Providence Journal last month to complain that instead of having a physics teacher, a history teacher had been teaching their class.

Arts & Culture

1:00 am

Wed January 23, 2013

Oh my goodness, folks, those wacky Brits are back. They arrived Monday night in a slippery snowstorm using as their invasion vehicle the much anticipated, and much hyped, “Anne Boleyn” by veteran troublemaking playwright Howard Brenton. You will remember his work if you caught the deliciously provocative play “Paul” which celebrated the life of St. Paul at the Gamm a while ago.

Environment

10:34 am

Sun January 20, 2013

(PROVIDENCE, RI) Last week, a cyclist in Newport was taken to Rhode Island Hospital after being hit by a suspected drunken driver. RIPR felt the issue needed more perspective. So we invited area cyclist Brian Chapman into the studio to discuss cycling safety and culture in the state. Chapman is a prominent fixture in the local cycling community. He's also a frame builder at Circle A Cycles. It's a local bicycle frame building cooperative in Providence.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee joins Political Roundtable this week to talk about his budget, Rhode Island's economy, and regional competition for a better tax climate. Also joining me in the discussion are RIPR political analyst Scott MacKay and guest panelist David Klepper from the Associated Press.

Health Care

6:00 pm

Thu January 17, 2013

Rhode Island Public Radio health care reporter joined afternoon host Dave Fallon in the studio to talk about what public health experts and legal scholars have to say about mental health records and the gun background check database. A transcript follows. You can listen to our feature story on Rhode Island's lack of participation in the National Instant Criminal Background Check, or NICS, database here.

The nation spends billions of dollars every year training future doctors. But health care experts worry we’re still not training enough doctors to prevent a serious shortage.

Next in our Future Docs series, we explore the problem and some possible solutions.

Brian Drolet is a fourth year plastic surgery resident at Rhode Island Hospital. He’s originally from New Hampshire, and went to medical school at Vanderbilt University. He says he’s drawn to plastic surgery because of the variety of cases.

Education

5:00 am

Tue January 8, 2013

Special Assistant to the Commissioner of the RI Board of Governors for Higher Education, Michael Trainor, talks with RIPR Morning Edition Host Elisabeth Harrison about the Sawyer School which abruptly closed this month. Trainor discusses what safeguards are in place to protect students enrolled in for-profit schools, the status of the school at its last audit, and what RI is doing for students left stranded.

This I Believe Rhode Island

10:11 am

Wed January 2, 2013

Women over 40 come into motherhood in several different ways. What they share is a fierceness of spirit, perseverance and a host of other qualities. Cyma Shapiro, in her work with midlife mothers, aims to dispel myths about this group; redefine women and middle age; and provide these mothers with a voice, face and forum. Her essay about her own midlife-motherhood journey also speaks to this group’s singular truths about the breakdown of all relational obstacles, and love and life choices.